Banned Version of Four Loko Still Sold

Chelsia Rose MarciusAn image of a store shelf at the Houston Village Farm on the corner of First Avenue and Fourth Street featuring the banned version of the caffeinated alcoholic beverage Four Loko.

Along the left-side wall of a bodega on Avenue B stands a row of glass door refrigerators, stocked with an assortment of alcoholic beverages from bottles of Budweiser to cans of Coors Light.

Three shelves down in the first fridge, there’s also another beer-like brew — Four Loko, the caffeinated alcoholic beverage that created a buzz before it was banned last year in several states, including New York.

The manager of this minimart — who spoke only on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job — said he knows it’s “illegal” to sell this version of the drink, an alcohol and caffeine combo that was manufactured by Phusion Projects last year before the company reformulated the product to eliminate caffeine. Yet more than seven months after the December 2010 ban took effect, several East Village establishments continue to sell the old Four Loko, a top selling brand name that brings some small businesses big bucks.

The Local visited 39 East Village establishments along Broadway, Third Avenue, Second Avenue, First Avenue, Avenue A, Avenue B, Avenue C and Avenue D. Of these, 26 sold the new, non-caffeinated Four Loko.

New York State Beer Wholesalers Association agreed to stop selling alcoholic beverages containing stimulants such as caffeine. William Crowley of the New York State Liquor Authority said wholesalers were to cease distribution to retailers after Dec. 10, 2010. He also noted that retailers “weren’t given an exact date” to sell off the product, and were granted “a little more time to clear their inventories so they weren’t taking a financial hit for purchasing the product before it became illegal.”

As to whether establishments still have the caffeinated Four Loko, Mr. Crowley said it’s “highly unlikely.”

“If they did, that would certainly be a red flag,” he said. “We have would go in and check the books and records to see when they purchased it.”

Small business owners could be charged with unauthorized purchase and unauthorized sale for buying Four Loko after Dec. 10, 2010, Crowley said, which could result in a $1,500 to $2,000 fine and — depending on several other factors, including the number of unauthorized purchases — the revocation of the store’s liquor license.

Vick Mukhia, manager of the Houston Village Farm on the corner of First Avenue and Fourth Street, said he sold out of the caffeinated Four Loko back in March.

“We’ve been getting complaints for a long time that we’re not selling the old Four Loko,” he said. “If we get complaints, that means we don’t have any. Obviously everyone wanted the caffeinated version; that makes you crazy. With the new one, the craziness is not there so people don’t buy it.”

Phusion Projects released a statement Nov. 16, 2010 that it would reformulate its products and remove caffeine from Four Loko, as well as the ingredients guarana and taurine. The announcement came one day before the Federal Drug Administration issued a warning letter to Phusion Projects and three other makers of caffeinated alcoholic beverages — known commonly as CABs — calling the caffeine in these malt alcoholic beverages an “unsafe food additive.”

Chelsia Rose Marcius

Chelsia Rose MarciusVillage Magazine (top) and 21 Produce Corp.

“It was the mixing a stimulant” — caffeine — “with a depressant” — alcohol — “that generated the warning letters,” said Doug Karas, a spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration. “The levels of caffeine were far greater than what is generally recognized as safe. If you’re seeing Four Loko on the shelves now, it’s not the product with caffeine in it.”

Lawrence King, a business counselor at the New York State Small Business Development Center, said it’s easy for store owners to overlook information about product recalls, noting that this “kind of information must be reinforced not only once but twice or three times,” and it’s often up to the distributor to notify retailers that the product in question must be taken off the shelves.

Mr. Mukhia and the Avenue B minimart manager said that they did not receive such notifications.

“No one came to investigate if we got it out or not,” said Mr. Mukhia, who said he did not remember receiving a letter to his business regarding the Four Loko recall. The manager of the Avenue B location said he continues to receive shipments of the caffeinated Four Loko from the New York distributor, Plantains Wholesale Beverage Inc..

A worker at Plantains denied that the distributor was shipping the banned version of Four Loko.

“That’s not possible, they’ve taken it out of the market,” said Roberto Monterrosa, who works in the inventory department of Plantains, which is based on the Lower East Side. “We don’t have it, it’s totally gone. We sell the new version. No one can sell the others.”

Steve Harris, president of the New York State Beer Wholesalers Association, said that the group represents most of the state’s beer distributors and that he’s “fairly confident that there was no distribution past the November cut off date.” Chris Short, a media spokesman at Phusion Projects, said in an e-mail message, “we voluntarily reformulated our product and stopped producing and shipping our old products last November. Since then, we’ve been working with our distributors and retailers to make sure the old products are removed from the shelves.”

Chelsia Rose MarciusThe 1st Ave Village Farm & Grocery.

Whether in-state or out-of-state distributors continue to sell the caffeine-infused drink to retailers, or if store owners simply stocked up before New York put the brakes on the beverage, some residents say they still see East Village party-goers chugging colorful cans of the brew.

“I’m tired of coming home at five in the morning and almost stepping in purple and green throw-up in the street,” said David Santa, 22, who works as a D.J. in the East Village and said he’s seen the caffeinated Four Loko at various area clubs. “That’s the last thing I want to see and I see it all the time.”

Buying the Banned Version of Four Loko

Chelsia Rose Marcius visits five local convenience stores where the banned version of the caffeinated alcoholic beverage is still sold.

18 Comments

Well, thanks East Village Narc! I’m sure the SLA or whatever authority is going to make sure these bodegas you individually identified will be in trouble if they find any, and now we get no more old school Four Lokos. Do journalistic ethics require that you play fun police?

This article as well as that article on rice wine a couple of days ago belong in the Straits Time of Singapore or other apparatchik rag. Don’t you guys have more serious and less moralistic stuff to report on.

Great, I didn’t realize that the Local was run by Narcs, here’s hoping you’ve put all these small business owners out of business! Perhaps maybe we can get some new bars to move into these spaces once they’re shut down. We need that!!

Oh wow! I will make sure to discontinue reading your “narc” blog after reading this atrocious, overly informative, publicized article. Thanks for not taking into account some people may want to have their last resources of the old Four Loko on lock and no it is not worth investigating! Shame on you.

Wow!!!
All the negative feedback for an Unsafe product!,
Hope non of these supporters have to rush a freind to the ER with alcohol piosioning or heart failure!,,
A Childs drink
Just look at the flavors with 12% what a F-ing joke
Jp

Just stop haiting on the original four lokos. If you don’t like them, then just don’t drink them. If the state took away something u really liked (not four lokos). Then u would reall be pissed. And just another hypocrite. Straight up. Thank you to all u small liguor stores who still sell them. Just wish I. knew a spot out here in cali that sells them. Its been a year sine I had an original. And dam I miss them bad! R.I.p 4lokos!!! It was a great experience and a wonderfull childhood memory I would always remember!!! Still sorry for the ones who thought they died off them. Everyone is different…HOPE 4LOKOS COME BACK…R.I.P

My 12 yr old ..for the 1st time got together with friends, who have drank this b4, and shared it with those so called friends… she was suposed to be sleeping at a friends home and without my permission..that mother drove these kids to a pizza place where they had a homeless guy purchase this drink between 7 nd 10 pm for them.. at 9:45pm that mother shows up at my home with a police officer to tell me that my little girl was rushed by ambulance to the ER. You cant even imagine how i felt nd how fast i drove to that ER.. if it wasnt for a police officer seeing these kids hanging out in a school field with my daughter covered in throwup laying on a “friends” lap.. my little girl would of been dead that night in this girls home… This dam drink.. caffeine or NOT should be banned !!!! I myself is doing some investigating with some small Bodega, gas stations nd minni marts… if i do see these there with those 3 banned ingredients..I AM TAKING ACTION.. nd as for that bum.. he will be pointd out and arrested..

To add to my previous comment… picture your child or relative laying in the ER with her eyes rolling behind her head nd completely unconsious having her spit sucked out of her mouth by a tube so she dont joke on it..seeing a heated blanket hooked to a machine covering her ..seeing nurses put a catheter into her nd having tubes in her nose ..needles in her arms and restraints on her wrist because she had after a few hours later an attack by wanting out nd wanting to get up… so for all you people talking so stupid about FourLoko..R.I.P .. Please come back!! BLAH BLAH BLAH…GO GROW UP!!!!!!

The original four lokos were awesome! I’m appalled by the fact that it has been taken away from us because of irresponsibility on others parts and under aged drinking, which might I add can easily be accomplished with ANY alcoholic beveraged being used irresponsibly. ~CHEERS TO FOUR LOKO! how I miss thee.

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